ATLANTA — As difficult as Saturday’s season-opening annihilation was to stomach for the Elon football team, it could become a helpful step in Mike Quinn’s progression at quarterback.

In the first starting assignment of his college career, the redshirt junior encountered a big setting — Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium, in downtown Atlanta, no less — and a bunch of big, fast dudes to deal with on defense.

“We’re not going to see better athletes out there, probably for all the 11 more games that we’re going to play,” Quinn said. “So it’s good to see a team like that. It’s great experience and I’ve definitely got to take that to heart.”

Elon coach Jason Swepson called the entirety of the 70-0 blowout administered by the Yellow Jackets a learning process to draw from. And naturally, a portion of those lessons were connected to Quinn, who threw three interceptions, two of which were returned for jarring touchdowns.

The quarterback left Georgia Tech saying the game reinforced, sometimes by way of disaster, that he has “to trust reads,” show more patience in certain situations and make sounder choices when the Phoenix is moving toward scoring opportunities.

Elon’s two most productive possessions Saturday were derailed by Quinn interceptions.

The first came in the first quarter after he had zipped completions of 14 yards (to Andre Davis), 7 yards (to Kierre Brown) and 12 yards (to Brown). Then, at the Georgia Tech 33-yard line, Quinn was picked off across the middle by linebacker Jabari Hunt-Days.

In the second quarter, Elon converted four first downs and drove 65 yards to the Georgia Tech 10. There, Quinn forced a pass on third down intended for Davis into tight coverage. The result was depressing.

Instead of an Elon touchdown or at least a field goal attempt, linebacker Tyler Marcordes snagged an interception and chugged away for a 95-yard score.

“Those are game changing,” Quinn said, also alluding to Georgia Tech safety Chris Milton’s 54-yard pick-six in the third quarter.

“Obviously, Quinny will get better,” Swepson said. “He’s not going to be in a bigger environment than this, and he moved the offense. We did some good things. We just didn’t get in the end zone. Just from the naked eye, he made two bad reads. And they went to the house.”

Quinn finished 17 of 30 for 136 yards. Elon’s offensive line, an area of concern in the preseason given the youth at some positions, held up in front of him. Quinn played 10 series and the Yellow Jackets never sacked him.

For comparison’s sake, Thomas Wilson went 13 of 27 for 99 yards and was intercepted twice in North Carolina’s 62-0 blasting of the Phoenix in last season’s opener. From there, Wilson proceeded to lead the Southern Conference in passing last year with 3,149 yards and 25 touchdowns.

Page 2 of 2 - “I’ve played with him three years and Mike throws one of the best balls I’ve ever seen. He’s on the money,” Elon safety Chandler Wrightenberry said of Quinn.

“He had some interceptions. It’s OK, though. He’s going to learn from it and next time he’ll make that pass or he won’t make that pass or he’ll make that read. He’ll get in the film room. He’ll tighten it up and fix it.”